DMK general secretary Durai Murugan, 26 others booked for illegal sand mining

CHENNAI: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has registered a case against DMK general secretary and former Water Resources minister Durai Murugan, two retired chief engineers and 14 public servants, along with 10 private individuals and firms, over alleged corruption and irregularities in river sand mining in Tamil Nadu between 2021 and 2024.

The alleged irregularities resulted in a wrongful loss of Rs 1,427 crore to the government, according to the DVAC release. The loss was calculated in respect of four of the 28 quarries. The case was registered by the DVAC headquarters based on complaints received from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chennai, S Tamilselvan and Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam.

As part of the investigation, DVAC officials on Friday conducted searches at 34 places across Chennai, Pudukkottai, Tiruchy, Karur, Vellore, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivaganga, Coimbatore, Salem, Namakkal and Puducherry. The searches were linked to alleged irregularities in sand mining operations in 28 quarries across the State.

The complaints alleged that contracts were awarded through limited tenders instead of open tenders, allowing irregularities in the allocation of mining rights. They also alleged that sand was mined beyond the approved mining plans, fake vouchers were fabricated in the name of permit slips and used as genuine documents, and sand was transported illegally.

During Friday's searches, officials seized 825 incriminating documents, 11 electronic gadgets and three bank locker keys connected to the case. The other accused include A Muthaiya and Ramamoorthi, both retired chief engineers, besides 14 public servants of the Water Resources Department and 10 private individuals and firms. The investigation is ongoing.